Since last season, the governing body of F1, the FIA, has been on a mission to eradicate drivers’ swearing from the sport. This has now culminated into new regulations for the 2025 season where drivers, who are found swearing or criticizing the FIA, can face steep fines, race bans, and even championship points deductions.
The latest stewarding guidelines have caused a furor in the paddock and among the fans alike, however, no driver has made an official statement yet. Having said that, reports suggest that no one in the F1 community is happy about the FIA’s decision.
Dutch journalist, Erik van Haren revealed that “the drivers are also not happy with this action.” But amid the governing body taking all the flak from the sport’s stakeholders, the FIA’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem has come out with his own statement.
“Drivers live with discipline. What you say is your responsibility. I don’t know why they’re making such a fuss about it. It’s discipline,” he said as quoted on X (formerly Twitter) by Soy Motor.
While Ben Sulayam’s intention makes some sense from a moral perspective, should the FIA look to achieve it by imposing hefty financial penalties on drivers?
️ Ben Sulayem habla sobre la conducta de los pilotos por la radio.
️ “Los pilotos viven con disciplina. Lo que dices es tu responsabilidad.”
️ “No sé por qué están armando tanto alboroto al respecto. Es disciplina.”#F1 #FIA pic.twitter.com/frLdkHHtxA
— SoyMotor.com (@SoyMotor) February 8, 2025
As things stand, the first offense of ‘misconduct’, could see a driver fined €40,000 (~$41,700). For the second offense, they will face a suspended one-month race ban and a €80,000 (~$83,300) fine. And a third offense could warrant a deduction of championship points and a one-month race ban, too.
Naturally, as the 2025 season progresses, this could make tensions rise between the FIA and the drivers.
FIA swearing diktat could spoil relationships in motorsport
These new mandates are not only applicable to F1 drivers. In fact, these fines and bans, to a lesser extent of course, are applicable to all the racing series and championships run under the banner of the FIA.
In light of these new rules, the president of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA), Alexander Wurz also made comments. “In this case, we are not involved. I’m not sure if the FIA has involved their own FIA drivers’ commission. That’s something I don’t know about,” he revealed.
Ben Sulayem, on the other hand, believes that this controversy will soon fade away from the media and fans’ minds. Moreover, he said that they brought in the provisions for increased fines via a democratic process where the World Motorsport Council (WMSC) had voted on it.
Given the complexity of the situation, it appears that this controversy is not going to die down soon, contrary to what Ben Sulayem feels. In fact, once the season starts and if drivers face such fines for swearing, the situation could get quite messy between the GPDA and the FIA.
